How to run successful Facebook Contests?

A Facebook Contest is an interactive technique to increase the engagement in your Facebook Page and to acquire new fans. Many business owners accept that contests result in increasing the brand awareness and gaining valuable information about a customer. There are also few business owners who claim that Facebook Contests don’t work anymore. Facebook contests can be successful in achieving your objective if conducted the right way, keeping few important pointers in mind. The biggest mistake a business can commit is by not reading the Facebook Promotion Guidelines before conducting a contest. Not following the guidelines can result in Facebook banning your contest or your page altogether. Here’s a complete guide on how you should go about FB Contests: Decide the type of Facebook Contests: The contest you run should match your objective and target audience. If the objective is to gain customer information, you can go for a ‘Sweepstakes’ Contest where in the customer has to give details like Name, E-mail ID, Mobile No etc to participate in the contest. The information can be collectively used for further marketing campaigns by the business. Photo contests are gaining popularity nowadays where a fan has to submit a photo on terms dictated by the Brand. A photo contest can be interactive and should be taken only if it’s relevant to the brand. Administer the contest using a Third Party App: One of the biggest mistakes committed by a brand could be conducting a Facebook Contest on their Wall. Though you do not need a written permission from Facebook to run a contest, you will have to only administer the contest using some third party apps like North Social and Wildfire. Make sure the app is mobile compatible as the number of mobile users accessing Facebook is growing rapidly. Offer prizes relevant to your Business: A trendy tech gadget might get a lot of users to participate in your contest but your objective is to bring in users who will be interested in your products and can be turned into customers. For example, if you are an e-commerce player, giving a discount voucher which could be used to buy products from your website at a discounted price, makes more sense as a prize for the contest rather than giving away a SPA voucher or an automobile. Promote your Contest: Once you decide the type of contest and give-aways, identify appropriate channels to promote your Facebook contest. You can use your Facebook feeds as a call-to-action for the user to participate or you can use your different social media channels like Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest to divert the users to your Facebook Page. If you expect a lot of new fans to participate in the Facebook contest, it’s better to run Facebook Ads with the target page set to your landing tab (The Facebook Contest Tab in your page) and with precise targeting options. Encourage all the Participants: Respond to all the queries about the contest asked by the users through Facebook Messages and Wall posts during the contest. Once the contest ends, distribute the prizes quickly and send an e-mail to all the participants announcing the contest results with a small incentive for people who participated but didn’t win. You cannot announce the winners on your wall as per Facebook Contest Guidelines. A Facebook Contest can be a terrific marketing tool for small and medium businesses by following these simple tips. Make sure to maintain the excitement in your page even after the contest with interesting posts around your business and target audience.

Information may be abridged and therefore incomplete. This document/information does not constitute, and should not be considered a substitute for, legal or financial advice. Each financial situation is different, the advice provided is intended to be general. Please contact your financial or legal advisors for information specific to your situation.